Front quarter vent control unit



Feb. 17, 1970 suKEo TsuRuMl Y 3,495,356

FRONT v:.uJAR'TER VENT coNTRQLfUNIT Filed June s. 1968 INV'ENTOR u/reo Tswum/ United States Patent O 3,495,356 FRONT QUARTER VENT CONTROL UNIT Sukeo Tsurumi, 62-574 Niina, Mino, Osaka-fu, Japan Filed June 3, 1968, Ser. No. 734,104 Int. Cl. B603 1/14 U.S. CL 49--333 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION This invention relates in general to a front quarter vent control unit for automobiles. Though most of the modern automobiles are making use of triangular vent windows at the front `doors thereof, they have problems in inadequate burglarproof configuration, troublesome operation, relatively high cost of production and waterproof incompleteness.

Although usual opening or closing control of said front vent window is effected by means of a lockable vent handle adapted to the window frame to be locked to or released from the door frame, or by means of a toothed wheel mechanism pivotally rotating said front vent Window, low operational efficiency and high production cost are common difiiculties to those facilities mentioned above.

Therefore, the main object of this invention is to provide a newly improved control unit of the triangular front vent, wherein low production cost and simple operation are achieved enabling them to be free from such former defects.

Another object of this invention is to provide a triangular front vent wherein projections as vent handle into the car are eliminated together with improved appearance by general simplification of said vent design.

Further object of this invention is to provide a triangular front vent wherein opening is effected only by pulling the vent lever whereas closing is achieved by pushing the vent frame with easy one touched operation in both controls of said opening and closing, resulting in improved safety of operations during driving the car.

Another object of this invention is to provide a triangular front vent in low cost of production with improved performance, enabling continuous and noise-free operation wherein complete locking is effected by pushing a part of the vent frame, tightly adapting said frame to packing rubber never to be loosened unintentionally.

While further objects and features of the invention will become apparent from the following description given by way of what is at present considered to be the preferred embodiment of the invention with reference to the accompany drawings, it will be understood that various modifications may be made therein as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a triangular front vent in closed form.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a front quarter vent control unit showing configurations in exposed form for convenience.

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FIG. 3 is a fragmentary vsectional plan view of inner configurations relating to the control unit disassembled from the door frame.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a cylindrical body of the control unit.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a cam, rolls and miniature springs.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a rotary plate with a pair of forked pawls.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a rotary lever for the plate shown in FIG. 6 and a return spring of the lever.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a rotary window'vent control unit commonly applicable to the various kinds of triangular front vents.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring to the drawings, a triangular vent control unit 10 for automobiles relating to the present invention is comprising a frame 11, a rotary body 12, a cam 13, a rotary plate 14 and a rotary lever 15, and return spring 16 is extended between the lever 15 and the frame 11. As is shown in FIG. l, the front end of the lever 15 is partly exposed into the automobile through an elongated slot worked inside the front door of the automobile so that it may be rotated by fingers.

The triangular vent window described here is conventional in form, comprising a triangular window frame 17, triangular window 18 and a pivotal shaft 19 at the center thereof, and said triangular window is rotatable left or rightward around said pivotal shaft.

While the shaft 19 of the triangular window extends through the door frame 20 of the automobile and is connected to the control unit of this invention, separate shafts for the triangular window and for the control unit may also be connected to each other as will be explained later in detail.

For the convenience of comprehension, several elements which form the triangular vent window of this invention are shown separately in the FIGURES 4 to 7 inclusive, being taken apart individually. A rotary control body 12 is a hollow cylinder in substance with adapting flanges 21 on both sides of itself. A cam 13 has a hole 22 at its center for the shaft to pass away therethrough, eccentrically curved surface 23 on both sides of itself, and a pair of holes 26 to hold small springs 25 therein which springly support a pair of rollers 24 correspondingly. Detailed explanation on the rollers 24 and small springs 25 will be described hereafter. A rotary plate 14 has a hole 27 as the cam mentioned above, and forked pawls 28 are projecting upwards out of the both sides to rotate the cam 13 by means of rollers 24, a projection 29 also being projecting downwards to drive the pivotal shaft of the triangular vent window by the controlling torque from the lever 15. The rotary lever 15 has a semicircular slot 31 arranged coaxially with a central hole 30, into which the projection 29 of the rotary plate 14 is freely tted to rotate the rotary plate 14 as one of the slot ends 32 strikes said projection by the control of rotary lever 15. The lever 15 has a hole 33 to keep an end of return spring 16 therein, the other end thereof being fixed onto the frame 11.

The configuration of the control unit of this invention is shown in FIGURES 2 and 3, wherein the cam 13 is fitted into the rotary control body 12, the forked pawls 28 of the rotary plate are inserted into the gap between the inner surface 34 of the rotary control body and the eccentrically curved surface 23 of the cam, and rollers 24 are fitted between said forked pawls 28 and said cam 13 being supported by the springs 25 which are held by the holes 26 of the cam 13. The projection 29 from the bottom surface of the rotary plate is freely fitted into the semi-circular slot 31 of the lever 15 which rotates the cam on which the pivotal shaft 19 of the triangular-vent windowL is fixed, by means of the rotary plate 14.

It is preferred that the center hole of the cam 13 may be of the form whereby the revolution of said cam is effectively transmitted tothe pivotal shaft 19 which passes said center hole therethrough, and in the embodiment disclosed by FIG. 3, an elongated center hole is applied therein. On the other hand, center holes 27 and 30 of the rotary plate 14 and rotary lever 15 respectively are free from torque transmission to the pivotal shaft 19 of the window, but freely rotatable around the shaft 19. The pivotal shaft 19 of the triangular vent window passes the control unit through, the bottom end thereof being projecting slightly out of the frame which fixes the control unit to the window frame 20, and being locked by a pin 37.

While in the embodiment disclosed by FIG. 3 the pivotal shaft 19 of the triangular vent window passes through the control unit and is also effected as the driving shaft for said triangular window to be rotated by the control lever 15, it is also available, as is shown in FIG. 8, that separated shafts of window frame shaft 39 and driving shaft 4'9 may be connected to each other by means of suitable configuration. In the aforesaid embodiment of FIG. 8, a projection 40 and a recess 41 are formed at the end surfaces of window frame shaft 39l and driving shaft 49 respectively in order that they may be fitted and connected to each other being locked by a pin which passes through the holes drilled through said projection and recess. Flexible joint may suitably be preferable, if the axes of said window frame shaft and of driving shaft do not come in a straight line. A torsion spring 42 is fixed at its end onto the frame 11 being wrapped around the circular channel of the driving shaft 49, the coiled direction thereof being that the coiling action is increased as the triangular window is closed. While the torsion spring 42 is fitted so as that the triangular window may be stabilized as opened against the window pressure, it is also effective to shorten the lever in design, as the returning torque of the spring is inclined to open the window. It is also preferable that the cam 13 and the driving shaft 49 may be formed in one body.

Now the control operation of the control unit of this invention is as follows. In order to open the triangular window, one may only draw the top end of the rotary lever 15 to the direction of the arrow as is shown in FIG. 1 by his finger. Then the projection 29 of the rotary plate 14 fitted inside the semi-circular slot of the lever 15 is driven to rotate being forced by the end surface 32 of said semi-circular slot 31, while the forked pawls 28 of the rotary plate opens the triangular window by rotating the pivotal shaft of said window fixed inside the center hole of the cam, by means of rotary motion of the rollers 24 and the cam 13. As the -window is opened to the desired degree, one may release the rotary lever. Then, while the lever 15 returns to the original position by the return spring 16, the triangular window remains open as the projection 29 of the rotary plate 14 remains at the same position as the window is opened inside the semi-circular slot of the lever 15.

As one desires to close the triangular window, he only needs to push the frame 17 of the opened window to the direction where said window closes, without operating the control lever, whereas the frame 17 closes by the rotation of the pivotal shaft to the direction whereby said window is closed, the cam 13 pushing the rollers 24 and forked pawls 28 and the projection 29 of the rotary plate traveling freely inside the semi-circular slot 31 of the lever. This closing operation for the window is effected not only by those inside the car, but also by those outside the car freely as will.

The triangular vent control unit of the invention is featured by the configuration that the triangular vent window is only able to be opened by the control of the rotary lever 15 inside the car, and it is impossible to open the window by pushing it toward the expected direction from outside of the carwMore specifically, when the window frame is pushed to the direction whereby the window is expected to be opened, the pivotal shaft 19 of the window frame forces the cam 13 to the corresponding direction, which in turn forces the rollers 24 into the narrowing gap between the eccentrically curved surfaces 23 of the cam and walls 34 of the rotary control body with compressing strain, resulting in protection of the cam 13 from being rotated. The rotation of the pivotal shaft 19 of the window and the triangular window itself is thus avoided, while the rollers to prevent the rotation of said cam are substituted by balls or a brake shoe. Small springs 25 placed between the cam 13 and the rollers 24 then increases the sensitivity of said brake action.

As has been described in detail, the triangular control unit of this invention enables one-touch operation, safety proof of operation during driving, closing said window even from outside of the car together with protection from being opened from outside, convenience with security, never loosened closing, continuous and noise-free operation, strong configuration with low cost of production, nothing projecting inside of the car with improved design and other superior features compared with prior commercial products.

While there has been described herein what is at present considered to be the preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be understood that various modifications may be made therein, and it is intended to cover in the appended claims all such modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. In combination, a triangular-shaped vent window v for automobiles including a frame about the window, a

pivot shaft secured to the window at the center thereof, a door frame, said shaft depending through the door frame, a control unit mounted in the door frame below the vent window, said control unit having a vertically-extending shaft, means detachably coupling the window and control shafts together, said control unit including a bracket frame having vertically-spaced, horizontally-extending parts and connected to the underside of the door frame, said control unit shaft extending between the spaced parts of the frame and journalled therein, said control unit further including a hollow cylindrical rotary control body fixed to and depending from the upper control unit frame part, a cam lying within the hollow control body and having eccentrically curved surfaces cut away on opposite sides thereof, said cam being operatively connected to the shaft, rollers operable over the curved surfaces and confined within the hollow control body, biasing means extending from the ends of the curved surfaces and actionable upon the rollers to move the rollers over the curved surfaces, a rotary plate journalled upon the shaft and having forked pawls projecting upwards from opposite sides over the cam surfaces to engage the rollers and rotate the cam, said rotary plate having a depending projection, a rotary lever journalled upon the control unit shaft and projecting inwardly from the control unit and from the door frame, said rotary lever having a semicircular slot concentric with its central hole and receiving the depending projection of the rotary plate, said rotary lever thereby serving to rotate the rotary plate as one of the slot ends strike the projection and a return spring upon the control unit shaft and reacting between the rotary lever and the lower spaced part of the bracket frame.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,976,306 10/1934 Swartz l92-8 2,934,188 4/1960 |Bremer 49-333X I. KARL BELL, Primary Examiner 

